Flexible guard railing



F. MICHAELS FLEXIBLE GUARD RAILING Jan. 8, 1946.

Filed July 19, 1944.-

lll Ii lll INVENTOILl Michaels ATTORN E YS Patented Jan.i 8, 1946 UNITEDSTATES `PATIEIN'I' GFF-ICE f 2,392,755 t F'Lnxnnn IGUARD lRAIIING. 1Flank Michaels, New York, N. Y. Application. July '19, l1944, serial No.545,671

y 2 claims., (ci. 39-74) This; invention relateszt'o Aflexible'--fguar'drailings such as of rope, cable, 'chain and tape, used. as

barriers and guide lines in theaters, railroady stations; public hallsand churches. Specifically this invention relates to a safety type offlexible guard railing which is yieldably and detachably aiixed toposts, stanchions and other fixtures.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a flexible guardrailing which would serve as a guide or barrier in public places duringnormal conditions and which would yield to the pressure of a panicstricken crowd pressing against it in time of emergency, as when seekingescape from a re.

Another object is the provision of a safety catch for use in connectionlwith such exible guard railings, said catch being of a type which wouldengage and hold such railing under normal conditions of use, and whichwould release said railing in response to the pressure of a crowd in anemergency.

These and other objects are attained by mechanism illustrated in theaccompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a side view of the safety device, shown connecting two fixedobjects;

Fig. 2 is a top View of the safety device, connected as shown in Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a face view of the safety catch member of the safety device;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section of said safety catch showing the engagingbutton in engaged position therein;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section of said safety catch also showing theengaging button in engaged position therein; and

Fig. 6 is a view similar to that of Fig. 5 showing the engaging buttonbeing withdrawn from the safety catch against the action of the gates ofsaid safety catch.

The safety device IIJ herein claimed, comprises an elongated rope ortape II affixed at one end to a stanchion or other heavy or immovableobject and having an engaging button I2 aiiixed to its other end, and asafety catch I3 aflixed to another stanchion or similar object, saidsafety catch being adapted to yieldingly engage said engaging button.

The safety catch I3 has a base plate 2n which in normal conditions ofuse is vertically disposed being affixed by means of screws 2| to avertical wall or stanchion 22. The bottom of the plate is bent upward toform a bottom shelf 23 which bears at right angles thereto. The top ofthe plate, with the exception of'a center portion 24 thereof, is bentdownwardly to form a pairfof spaced top shelves 25 whichv lie in alcommon plane, said plane being-parallel to the plane 0f;- bottom shelf23. A 'pair of spaced verticallydis-` posed pivot pins 28 are fixed insaid shelves in the usual manner, said pins being xed on parallel axes.

Mounted on said pins are a pair of gates 21 which are held tightlyagainst said top and bottom shelves by means of springs 28. Said springsare also mounted on said pins. At one end said springs engage the baseplate; atthe other end they engage hooks 29 which are affixed to saidgates. It will be noted that when the gates are in closed position, thatis, in pressure contact with shelves 23 and 25, lying in a planeparallel to the plane of the base plate, they are spaced from eachother. The space between said gates, when closed, is smaller in widththan the diameter of the button I2. The space is wide enough, however,to accommodate button neck 30 hereinafter mentioned.

The engaging button I2 has a narrow neck 30 which is riveted orotherwise aflixed to a yoke 3|, which in turn is riveted or otherwiseaiixed to one end of tape I I. The other end of the tape is aixed, bymeans of screw 3'2 or otherwise, to wall or stanchion 33.

To use the device, the yoke end of the tape is held in the hand, and thebutton inserted into the space between top shelves 25 and then moveddown behind gates 21 until it reaches, and is stopped by, bottom shelf23. The neck 30, of course, moves integrally with the button, passingdownwardly through the space between the gates.

To disengage the device, the button is removed from behind the gates inthe same way it was inserted.

It will be noted that the only force that keeps the button from beingremoved from the safety catch I3 in any manner and direction other thanthat previously described, is the tension force exerted by the springsupon the gates to hold them in pressure contact with the shelves. Apulling force applied to the tape greater than the tension force of thesprings will cause said gates to swing open against said tension force.This is illustrated in Fig. 6. When the gates are swung open to apredetermined extent, measured by the diameter of the button, thebutton, and hence the tape to which it is attached, will be released.

Any crowd,of any size, and indeed any indiyidual, pushing against thetape as, for example,

to escape from a iire, would be able, without any dimculty, to exertsufficient pressure against the tape to bring Vabout its release fromthe safety catch, as aforesaid. l

The device herein described may be modied in its features ofconstruction, ,without departing y from the principles of the invention.For example, the device may be provided with one stationary and oneswinging'gate, instead of the two swinging Agates above described, Y,Another modification might beto provide a singlelength of tape with twobuttons, one at each end, and to provide a pair of safety'catches toengage them.

This would permit of removing the tape entirely vfrom between the twostanchions when desired.

I claim: 1.Y A safety device of the type described, comprising a ropeadapted to be aiiixe'd atv one endf to a stanchion, a button aiiixed tothe other end v of said rope, said button having a relatively largehead-and a relatively small neck-,and a safety catch,fsaidcatchvconsisting of a base plate adapted to be Vaiixedto a stanchion, apair of gates spaced from each other and from the base plate,

said gates beingv pivoted on a pair` oil vertically Adispo'sedpins whichare afxed to said base plate,

and a pair of tension ,springs which engagesaid' rope, and a safetyVcatch said catch consisting Y of a base plate, a pair of gates pivotallymounted on said base plate on parallel pivots which lie in a planeparallely to the base plate, and a pair of tension elements which engagesaid base plate and said gates to yieldingly prevent the gates fromopening outwardly from the Abase plate, said gates being adapted toyieldingly vengage andhold said l button. c Y

' kFRANK MICHAELS.

